Esther 9:16-22

16Meanwhile the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered together to protect themselves and to get relief from their enemies. They killed 75,000 of their enemies, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

17This happened on the thirteenth day of Adar and on the fourteenth day they rested, making it a day of feasting and gladness.

18But the Jews that were in Shushan had assembled on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth and on the fifteenth they rested, making it a day of feasting and gladness.

19That is why the rural Jews—those living in unwalled villages—make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a day of sending presents of food to one another.

20Mordecai recorded these events and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

21urging them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar every year

22as the days when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into celebration. These were to be days of feasting, celebration and sending presents of food to one another and giving gifts to the poor.